Vienna City 15. April 2012 run vienna – enjoy classic

PRESS RELEASE VIENNA CITY MARATHON 4 October 2011

Only a Marathon is a Marathon!

Is the “Marathon” in the sense of a running event 42,195 metres in length or merely 38 kilometres? The answer is: it depends on the sport you’re doing. In running there is exact measurement of courses throughout the world. Triathlon, on the other hand, allows deviations from the rules of up to ten per cent. That represents a shortening of the marathon distance of up to 4.2 kilometres! “Triathlon courses cannot be counted as officially measured distances unless the same procedures are carried out as for road races,” says Hugh Jones of AIMS, the Association of International and Distance Races. The Vienna City Marathon, an IAAF Gold Label Road Race, points out that running performances in triathlons must accordingly be viewed relatively and the name “Marathon” should be positioned in the sport of running as a brand name.

For years the same accurate and practical regulations for the course measurement of marathons and road races have been in place throughout the world. The Association of International Marathons and Distance Races (AIMS) has been a pioneer in this respect and created a binding apparatus for such work. It means that it can be guaranteed that a marathon really is 42,195 metres in length. To be more exact: it is certain that a marathon is at least 42,195 metres long. This is because one thousandth of the distance is added to the measured course to ensure that there is no possibility that the prescribed distance falls short. In the case of a marathon, that is 42.2 metres.

A Marathon is a Marathon, wherever it may be

Everyone in running is aware of this and every serious event organiser keeps to this rule. That’s how comparisons of performances and recognition of records are possible. This is a very good situation for the millions of runners, the organisers and the public. A marathon is a marathon, anywhere in the world. If an organiser departs from these rules, they are beyond the pale.

But couldn’t it be just a little shorter?

“Marathons”, “Half Marathons” and other running competitions are, however, part of triathlon events. These running distances are not measured according to AIMS criteria. The rules of the International Triathlon Union (ITU) permit considerable reductions: “Minor deviations in the individual disciplines for reasons of local conditions and/or the difficulty of the course are perfectly acceptable. However, at championships the deviations are only permitted to account for a maximum ± 10%, as the German Triathlon Union states on page 7 of their regulations (2011/13 edition). Reference: http://www.dtu- info.de/sportordnung.html?file=tl_files/dtu/PDFs/Ordnungen/Sportordnung%202011-3.pdf .

Veranstalter: Enterprise Sport Promotion GmbH, Gußhausstrasse 21/19, 1040 Wien Pressekontakt: Andreas Maier, Tel. +43 650 350 14 88, E-Mail: [email protected]

Vienna City Marathon 15. April 2012 run vienna – enjoy classic

If the 10% rule is applied to a privately licensed IRONMAN competition, the “Marathon Distance” of 38 kilometres can be “short” and yet still be considered as conforming to the rules. Which organiser would not use the ruling to their advantage?

For example, in the competition arrangements for the Ironman Austria, the length of the running section is given as 42.195 kilometres. There then follows an addition which allows room for a great deal of interpretation: the distance should be understood having “slight variations depending on geographic course length” – Compare: http://www.triangle.cc/assets/imat_uploads/imat2012_athleten_reglement_en_.doc).

In principle it matters very little what distance a triathlon includes. If an organiser wants to have the run around a particular curve of a lake and the running dist